Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 7604
| Start | August 17, 2421 at 11:45 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | September 13, 2421 at 05:38 PM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.25 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7599 | April 3, 2421 at 08:48 AM UTC | April 30, 2421 at 03:23 PM UTC | 27.27 |
| 7600 | April 30, 2421 at 03:23 PM UTC | May 27, 2421 at 08:55 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 7601 | May 27, 2421 at 08:55 PM UTC | June 24, 2421 at 01:47 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 7602 | June 24, 2421 at 01:47 AM UTC | July 21, 2421 at 06:33 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 7603 | July 21, 2421 at 06:33 AM UTC | August 17, 2421 at 11:45 AM UTC | 27.22 |
| 7604 | August 17, 2421 at 11:45 AM UTC | September 13, 2421 at 05:38 PM UTC | 27.25 |
| 7605 | September 13, 2421 at 05:38 PM UTC | October 11, 2421 at 12:10 AM UTC | 27.27 |
| 7606 | October 11, 2421 at 12:10 AM UTC | November 7, 2421 at 07:11 AM UTC | 27.29 |
| 7607 | November 7, 2421 at 07:11 AM UTC | December 4, 2421 at 02:34 PM UTC | 27.31 |
| 7608 | December 4, 2421 at 02:34 PM UTC | December 31, 2421 at 10:19 PM UTC | 27.32 |
| 7609 | December 31, 2421 at 10:19 PM UTC | January 28, 2422 at 06:24 AM UTC | 27.34 |
About this tool
A Carrington rotation is the time the Sun takes to turn once on its axis as seen from the Earth: 27.2753 days on average. The count was defined by the English astronomer Richard Carrington, who studied sunspots in the 1850s; rotation 1 began on 9 November 1853, and the numbering has run without interruption since.
Explorer computes the start of each rotation with the formula given by Jean Meeus in Astronomical Algorithms (chapter 29), implemented in its own astronomy library and checked against published dates. A rotation begins when the Carrington longitude L₀ of the central meridian passes through 0°; because the Earth moves along its orbit, the synodic period varies slightly around the mean, hence lengths of 27.2 to 27.3 days.
Observers use the rotation number as a calendar for the Sun: an active region that crosses the disc reappears about one rotation later, and the community activity heatmap shows one row per rotation so that returning regions line up. Enter a date to find its rotation, or a number to get the UTC start and end dates and the neighbouring rotations.